An array of shops lines what has been nicknamed the Champs-Elysées, the main thoroughfare of white tents at Zaatari refugee camp, which has mushroomed into effectively Jordan's fifth largest city since the middle of last year.

With entrepreneurial zeal, Syrians have – with their own or borrowed money – set up shop in the camp. Vegetable shops abound, selling purple aubergines, potatoes and cucumbers. Butchers sell slabs of meat, which hang in glass refrigeration units. Clothes and footwear are available.

There are rotisseries with chickens on spits and falafel sellers. There is even a pet shop selling birdcages. There is everything a high street would have, except these shops are in a camp of about 100,000 refugees, half of them under 18.

People readily pose for photographs, although there are fears that they will make easy prey for smugglers who seek candidates to work for them as petty criminals to traverse the porous border with Syria about 8 miles (12km) away. A little convoy of covered wheelbarrows indicates that contents are indeed ready for smuggling.

About an hour's drive from Amman, Jordan's capital, people in Zaatari initially expressed resentment about the camp, with protests a regular occurrence. The mood is calmer now as people have settled into a routine and services have improved. Around 300 tankers ship in 4m litres of water every day, while another 200 tankers take out the dirty water.

The camp has electricity and residents have tapped into the grid to divert it to individual homes and shops. Around 40% of the homes have televisions. There are three schools – although attendance is low – and at least two hospitals. There are also plans to lay down pipes so each household has water.

It costs roughly $500,000 (£300,000) a day to run Zaatari and Jordanians – who have been hospitable and generous – are beginning to grumble about the pressure on their schools and hospitals from the influx, while donors are seen as favouring refugees.

Abdullah al-Khattab, the governor of Mafraq, spoke at length about the strain on his area, already one of the poorest regions in Jordan.

He told Alan Duncan, Britain's international development minister, on Tuesday: "There is a lack of water, more rubbish, there are pressures on the electricity supply and the health system, our classrooms are overcrowded. The water tankers are damaging the road network going to and from the camp. Syrians are taking jobs from us," he said.

Jordanian NGOs and aid workers agree that the burden of supporting more than 500,000 Syrian refugees is stretching resources to the limit. Syrians are beginning to fan out across the country and the region – to Morocco, Algeria and even Yemen.

"We are seeing the consequences for host communities," said Duncan. "Rents at the cheaper end are going up, prices are going up and there is a strain on public services. We have to look beyond the influx and at the longer consequences."

After his visit to Zaatari and a school run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Duncan announced an allocation of £11m to several relief groups, including Care, Handicap International, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Unicef, the UN agency for children. The additional money will take the Department for International Development's (DfID) contribution to Unicef in the region to more than £30m.

Particularly concerned at the danger of a "lost generation", DfID is increasingly focused on the education of Syrian children. Justine Greening, the international development secretary, announced in October that DfID would match all UK public donations to Unicef for the next three months to address the education problem and to provide counselling for children.

"The danger of having traumatised children who have had their education cut short is that they will be scarred for life and we'll have a lost generation. If we focus on their problems now, we may avoid decades of impairment," said Duncan.

In all, the UK is the second largest contributor to the humanitarian aid effort for the Syria crisis, having committed £500m.

As for support for Jordan, the UK in October announced a contribution of £12m to a World Bank managed Jordanian fund of about $50m in support of Jordanian municipalities.

Although Zaatari appears a vibrant and orderly place, Syrians are adamant they do not want to make it their permanent home.

One 23-year-old man, a former police officer and a member of the Free Syrian Army, lost his left leg to a bomb. He was practicing walking on a new prosthetic leg with a help of a cane at a physical therapy centre for disabled people. He said: "Of course I want to go back. I want to go back to my family and to the Free Syrian Army."

• This article was amended on 28 November 2013. The figure of 4,000 litres of water supplied daily was changed to 4m.